As wireless networks continue to evolve to “anything to anything” networks that support “anything to anything” traffic, wireless networks need to be able to transport many different types of traffic both efficiently and cost effectively. For example, such wireless networks need to be able to transport traffic ranging from high end data traffic (e.g., streaming video services, video conferencing/collaboration services, peer-to-peer services, and the like) to low end data traffic for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (e.g., healthcare monitoring, meter reading, and the like), and everything in between. Disadvantageously, however, existing wireless networks are “one size fits all” networks that do not support efficient and cost-effective use of network resources for transporting such traffic and, thus, the cost of providing all services, and the treatment of all services irrespective of the type of service, is the same. As such, the cost of providing services with lower data requirements is relatively high compared to the cost of providing services with high data requirements. In addition, low data requirement services, if in large enough volume, can overload a network intended to provide high data service, and, thus, compromise quality of service for services with high data requirements.
Furthermore, as wireless networks evolve to “anything to anything” type networks, many different traffic bottlenecks occur, thereby reducing the quality of service. First, in an “anything to anything” network, the amount of signaling that is performed in support of the “anything to anything” traffic continues to increase. The signaling overhead is significant, which uses resources in the network at a much higher rate than other types of traffic. This problem is further exacerbated as the numbers and types of services made available via the network increase, because spectrum becomes even more of a bottleneck. Second, in an “anything to anything” network, the amount of traffic through the core of the network is also greatly increased and bottlenecks in the core network will occur, especially with data intensive services, blocking the flow of traffic and greatly reducing quality of service. This has already been experienced with the iPhone, which is a 3G service, and 4G promises even higher increases in data traffic. As a result, service traffic (e.g., such as high speed, high bandwidth traffic supporting high value services) would need to be throttled back in order to free up capacity to support the associated signaling overhead or core network resources for these and other lower value services.
Additionally, while the foregoing problems are applicable to all types of wireless networks, these problems may be further exacerbated by other problems specific to different types of wireless networks. For example, traffic for M2M communication is short and bursty in nature, and does not require high bandwidth or great use of network resources. As a result, this type of traffic could be bundled together for more efficient network utilization. However, M2M networks are currently fragmented (primarily because M2M networks are operated by individual businesses for their own purposes) such that bundling of M2M traffic is not performed for a variety of reasons. First, most M2M networks are independent of service provider wireless networks, such that M2M traffic must be transported through one type of network independent of which type of network is capable of transporting the M2M traffic most efficiently (i.e., depending on the type of wireless technology being used by the service provider, such as CDMA, UMTS, LTE, and the like). Second, even lower-cost M2M networks, such as Zigbee, are not incorporated into or even interfaced with service provider wireless networks. Thus, since bundling of M2M traffic is not performed, the cost of transporting M2M traffic is greater than is necessary. Furthermore, as M2M traffic expands with increased “anything to anything” usage, the need for more robust and more efficient ways to carry M2M traffic will occur.
As such, a need exists for an improved capability for bundling and handling traffic in wireless networks.